Matthew Cairns will join Virginia Tech as a transfer for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year, the school announced this week. Cairns arrived at Florida this past fall from Great Britain for his freshman season. He has three years of eligibility remaining.
As a freshman, Cairns did not finish his season at the SEC Championships. He instead swam at the Florida Invite. There he swam lifetime best times of a 47.02 100 back, 1:43.40 200 back, and 1:43.68 200 fly. This was his first season ever swimming under the short course yards (SCY) format.
Cairns’ lifetime best times:
- 100 back: 47.02
- 200 back: 1:43.40
- 200 fly: 1:43.68
The Virginia Tech men finished 6th out of 15 teams at the 2025 ACC Championships. The team was led by fifth year Carles Coll Marti who scored 90 points including wins in the 200 breast and 200 IM.
Based on his best times, Cairns is within scoring at the ACC level. His best time in the 200 fly would have made the ‘C’ final while it took a 46.71 in the 100 back and a 1:42.64 in the 200 back to earn a second swim. Landon Gentry led the team in the 200 fly as he was 7th in a 1:41.76. Gentry will begin his sophomore season this fall so the two will have the chance to train together the next three years.
The team graduates its top backstrokers as Youssef Ramadan just finished his 5th year and led the team in the 100 back (44.61) while Mario Molla Yanes just finished his senior season and led the team in the 200 back (1:39.80).
